Hybrids, Toyota Prius

What people are looking for in a car today is obvious, good fuel mileage. Hybrids in today's market are a key stepping stone of what the future has to offer for us. I believe that this truely is the way of the future along with the use of an alternative fuel, not depending upon gasoline at all. One major car that sticks out in the small number of hybrid models is the Toyota Prius. While many of you know what a Prius is there is a lot more about the car that many people do not know about. A driver cannot go down a road without seeing one of these hybrids anymore. They are becoming more and more popular because of the great fuel economy they get for in town driving.

The way a Prius works is based on the combination of both electricity and gasoline to power the vehicle, thus making it a hybrid. The better city mileage can also be aided by the fact the electric part of the vehicle can power it to speeds up to 15 mph, thus alleviate the dependency on gasoline entirely at low speeds. The drive train and braking are Toyota's main focus on turning the vehicle into a power supply within itself. The way the car regenerates electricity is in the braking, as you brake the car sends the excess kinetic energy back to the batteries, charging them up.

The car has many different settings that it senses depending on what kind of driving you are doing. For intown driving it focuses more on the regeneration of power and the use of the batteries to drive the car. For most highway driving the car uses primarily the gas engine to provide power. The gas engine when at a certain speed will actually provide enough electricity to cover the loss of the electric portion of the vehicle.

This car has many different features that can be tweaked to gain even more gas mileage. Several people have altered the wiring system in the car and have obtained over 100 mpg. This proves that if any average Joe or electrically inclined person can alter to obtain this, why can't the automotive companies exceed the fuel mileage they are making cars get today?

Smart Cars, Are they worth it?

As the nation looks for a new way to avoid the ever dreaded fill up at the pump, they seem to turn towards something smaller, something more "practical", but is this sudden surge towards "practical" really the solution everyone has been searching for? The new and highly talked about Smart car has been taking the nation by storm with its tiny shape and economical fuel mileage. Many believe that the car is the way of the future, and this could be true, but what will happen when the family wants to go out of town for a weekend or want to haul anything?

With the car gaining over 48 miles-per-gallon in town and close to 70 on the road of course these glorified go-carts will sell. For a single person or those who are mostly by themselves the car is an ideal means of transportation, but spending $12-17,000 on a brand new car because of the fuel mileage is hypocritical in the scheme to save money. The average American uses around 500 gallons of gasoline per year, at $4 a gallon, this is roughly $2,000 dollars a year. Spending $17,000 dollars on a new car will therefore take you 8.5 years to break even on your investment and start to actually save you money. Many people look at the problem as a solution that can be used now. A quick fix to the ever growing problem the entire world is beginning to face.

Another major dilemma of the Smart Car is the strain it puts on American automakers to compete in the global market. As more of these European Engineered cars pour into the market place, it leaves us with no choice but to compete. American's though are used to the large SUV and trucks that provide comfort and are ergonomically friendly. We, as Americans, love the thrill of power, and the 3-cylinder, 71 horsepower engine, just isn't cutting the cake. Why must we sacrifice power just to save a little coin? A shift in the market of America automakers must be to lean towards using alternative fuels to completely dissociate the so called "Smart Cars" and eliminate the use of gasoline entirely. This could find a way to keep the overally large vehicles we drive on the road and keep the comfort, and it could also allow us to keep the power that we've grown to know as American.

Burns cleaner but not enough!!

21 million barrels of oil a day, roughly 61 million gallons, are consumed in the U.S. alone. To supply our country for one year on 100% Ethanol, we would need to farm 97% on all the land with only corn!
Let me reiterate that Ethanol burns cleaner, yet to grow one acre of crop for Ethanol it takes 140 gallons of fossil fuel! So when someone says it helps the Earth does it? That one acre produces just 328 gallons of fuel and before the crop is even finished it costs $1.05! Pure ethanol in near impossible for all of the United States to use and to be able to even afford; so then why do politicians and scientist say Ethanol is the answer? Negatives in the oil industry are very dangerous to the health of our young Earth, maybe that’s why people look to Ethanol.
We need change; Ethanol is the closest thing we have to that! Honda and Toyota are working on cars that use battery technology. Unfortunately battery life is playing a huge role in the advancements of these cars. There are also additional ideas out on the horizon such as hydrogen powered cars but progress in that for the time being is just research! My hope is that someday we could run on nuclear power but for the time being I guess I’m stuck paying $3.75 a gallon for gas.

Where should money go?

I’m pretty sure that everyone is aware of gas prices and how outrageous they became this past summer, but what is in store for America and the world in the future? Are we going to settle with ethanol the quick fix? Some call it an ineffective band-aid not the “Answer”?
The way I see it is that while yes it does burn much cleaner an effective, it can’t really be this good? Everyone always praises Ethanol but what are the negatives? Making ethanol means less corn entering the market which in turn could raise the prices of corn for us! That doesn’t seem bad if you don’t eat a lot of corn, but think of all the products with corn syrup. When you use more corn to create more ethanol, then that possibly creates a lower supply and higher demand in the market so the price of corn may go up. Could this eventually lead to higher food prices? I’m not an expert and by no means am I trying to be, I’m just wondering about the negative effects of Ethanol. Something so good, can it really be true? Nothing is ever as good as it seems.
What about the farmers! Say ethanol producers are paying top dollar for barrels of corn; don’t you think farmers are going to just make corn? Not only will farmers just make corn but they will just sell barrels to these companies! What can we do to solve these simple yet very very important? I am just wondering why if I can think of these questions and I don’t even have a degree relating to the topic, then who is solving these problems before they can happen.
Should we try our luck on other sources of powering our motor vehicles? Whatever we do, we need to try to get away from gasoline because it’s having a negative effect in the world we live in. Ethanol seems to be the quickest way to please Americans, but is it just the immediate answer or a permanent solution!